Quick introduction: last summer I wrote my first fanfic ( s/8370729/1/To-move-on) a pilot experiment and personal desire of the events post season 3 and throughout this whole year I've been writing this sequel. It has been way more insightful and I've tried my best to keep this story apart from season 4, but there are some coincidences (songs I promise I had planned on including here before they were on Glee, pinky swear) I just couldn't avoid.
Anyway, I hope you enjoy it. Another 29 chapters, 'previously on' included.
So here's what you've missed on To Move On: stop reading, what's the use? Go read the first part, don't spoil it. 29 chapters, they're good stuff. Now, the real deal:
So here's what you read in To Move On and you have probably forgotten: Finn and Rachel talked over the summer, and somehow Rachel said that she'd come back to Lima for Finn, Finn didn't get it, and he didn't come back from Fort Benning, so Rachel spent half of her summer all by herself with the Berry dads after she asked for a gap year at NYADA.
Rachel's decision left an open stop at the academy, so the first one on the waitlist got in by surprise: Kurt Hummel. Before he left to New York, Blaine talked to Finn and followed his advice of 'letting the loved one free to pursue his dreams'; in other words, Blaine Finned Kurt and broke up with him at the airport. So Porcelain rented an apartment in the capital of the modern world. With Santana. Yes. Kurt and Santana.
A new year began at McKinley High School and Rachel enrolled back, this time taking Spanish classes in the afternoon. Nobody ever saw her attending any of them, but it was the perfect excuse to claim back her throne in New Directions, unleashing the madness of a Tina Cohen-Chang that had planned her senior year to take place under a constant spotlight. Madness, craziness, pathological psychosis, anything you want to call it.
As I was saying, Rachel's back and nobody wants her there hoarding solos. Except for the solo hoarder himself, Blaine, who turned out to be the one, only and main support of the diva. Artie was too busy trying to fight for the leadership of the choir and failing in the attempt; Tina, as already said, wanted to take Berry's eyes out; Brittany didn't care at all, she was busy enough dealing with her cat and keeping her relationship afloat; and neither Sam, Sugar, Rory nor Joe ever got too close to Rachel, so they didn't give a shit about her being in or out, plain and simple.
Meanwhile, Mr. Shue had to deal with another problem: finding new members, which now that I think about it is kind of a tradition already. 'New' faces: Sebastian, who came from Dalton to steal Blaine's heart/pants; Santana, who pulled a Berry and rejoined when she got a lazily photoshopped disturbing picture of Rachel and Brittany making out… Oh, I have to explain that too: Why did Sebastian do that? Because Rachel and Blaine had bonded a little bit too much, to the point that the flames of what was born during the Rachel Berry House Party Train Wreck Extravaganza came back to life and the little Warbler wasn't that 100% gay in the end.
So, up to here they were 11, one more needed to compete, but a lot of stuff happened before that; for example, Finn's visit after one month and a half. He appeared at Rachel's doorstep while she was making out/figuring things out with her new/not-so-new love interest. She slammed the door in his face.
Why did Finn come back to Lima then? Does his brain work as slowly as stated by Santana? No, he came back to get married. What?! Yes, what you read. After that goddamn phone call with Rachel, he went to Cali and paid a visit to his best bro. He stayed with Puckerman a couple weeks. No, it wasn't a Pinn wedding, it was a Fuinn wedding. What?! Yes, what you read again. Quinn was supposed to finish what he started with Puck before his final Geography exam and ended up in a Jacuzzi with her first man. Crazy, huh? Lindsay Lohan es bien loca, but Quinn Fabray even more, because she went all Beyoncé on Finny and put a ring on it. Going to the chapel of love one month later, bitches.
So the fiancés are back, making jaws drop as they handed out wedding invitations all over the high school. I'll skip the part where Rachel cries and serenades Finn with 'Woman in Love' in the middle of his street, Santana allies with her to take down that engagement by sleeping with the groom (just sleeping, sharing the same bed during the night, no intercourse), and bla bla bla.
The wedding issue: everybody is at the wedding but Sebastian, who had neither a say nor a do there, and Joe, who still had feelings for the blonde. And when I say everybody, that includes a Glee reunion, Puckerman included, who kissed the bride right after she walked down the aisle. Santana's crappy sabotage plan reached its climax with Shelby's appearance, who was carrying a crying Beth, and not even that was enough. The bitch is tough and she went all the way down with the 'I do.' And Finn, who was clearly and openly in love with Rachel, said that dreadful 'I do' too, because his morals didn't allow him to dump the messed up teen mom again.
Anyway, the party started, Rachel got drunk as hell and she ended up talking more than she should have. Things got ugly, Santana and Brittany had a crisis because the first one was keeping things from the dummy one in order to take Quinn down (and, ironically, Quinn was the one who took Santana down via bitchslap)… but they made it up.
Where was I? Oh, yes, Rachel got drunk, lots of things were said and sung, including Katy Perry's 'The One That Got Away' from Blaine to Rachel and 'My Heart Will Go On' from Rachel to Finn, awkward as hell, but finally the groom flew away and dropped his ring. Wedding over, raging Fabray, hungover Berry and broken-up Brittana. Why 'broken-up Brittana'? Long argument short: "You think I'm dumb and you don't trust me with your schemes with Rachel", "You are the thing I love the most, don't be like that", "You failed me, I'm gone."
The following week was kind of… curious. The kids got their Sectionals moved earlier, so they had to put up a show in less than a week one member short, besides the fact that they had a depressive/sexually-hungry Santana (keep that in mind), Blaine and Rachel having some awkwardness troubles and Artie sent to social exile. Artie, the loser by definition. Oh, I forgot to tell you why the New Directions' boys turned his back on him: Tina went all attention whore at the wedding and burst out that she and Wheels had been "having fun" while she was with Mike Chang. Whatever. She was lying. Mike Finned her and there was no cheating at all, so, according to the popular custom, we'll move to another subject and don't pay any more attention to Tina.
Have you kept in mind the horny Santana thing? Whether you have or not, here's the deal: she banged Sebastian. Yes, the allegedly gay Santana went all Lima Heights (in the dirty way) on the dick hunter Sebastian Smythe. It's called the Scandals effect. But it was just a one-night thing and nothing else. We all hope. Too much evil in one bed. God protect us from a child born of those two.
In another order of business: Finnerboy came back a couple days later. Once Fabray-free, he started an offensive to get Berry back. And, by offensive, let's say that he serenaded Rachel back while, wait for it, she was crying on her bed with Blaine right after he declared the shit out of himself. Hell yes, the little gelled up lovebird grew balls and went to Rachel's right after he and Finn had a bro-talk. Bros? Bros my ass. Actually, Berry's ass, which was the cause of the fight. Sneaky tiny bastard. Whatever, the diva got two magnificent ego boosts in less than ten minutes and then it was all up to her.
The day after the pity party the Blaichel had in that excessively pink bedroom it was as awkward as it could be. Well… not awkward awkward, just… how to say it? Intervention-y. Santana did her magic on Rachel, Sebastian did his on Blaine (not 'that' kind of magic, you pervs) and they ended up with an Adele song and the resolution of one of, as the whole school calls it even today, the most annoying sexual crises ever. Funny thing? After Blaine openly admitted he wasn't as gay as everybody thought he was, he ended up with Sebastian once he had given up on Rachel.
So Sebastian got Blaine, it couldn't be clearer that his thing with Santana didn't mean a thing, and the Brittana got restored thanks to the magical intervention of Lord Tubbington. 'Magical' according to Brittany, obviously. 'The damn cat weighs a ton and he stepped on my boobs again' according to Santana. They made up, happily ever after. Teen lesbian love is so perfect. One couple crisis solved. Barely believable.
Before I forget: Sectionals thing. Guess who was the 12th member they needed? Just when Rachel had made her choice, Mr. Jesse St. James comes back from hell to give the losers a hand. Well, a hand with a contract that assured him the main role of the Broadway musical Shelby Corcoran was putting up. They had fights over the solos, usual New Directions stuff, but they win with a little help from the alumni. Yay.
Since nice traditions must be preserved, Sue, who surprisingly didn't stand in Will's kids' way too much, got into labor before the announcement of the winner. Once the captains had picked the trophy, everybody went down to the hospital. And by everybody I mean even the ones that should be long gone. And by that I mean Quinn, whose experience wasn't even worth a fuck to Sue, but her presence led us to the last one of the serenades. A serenade that leads me to think that they are overusing stupid love songs to say what they feel (or shouldn't be feeling). Who serenaded who? Puck She-will-be-loved the Queen of the Evil Bitches, her panties dropped to the ground because she got to be the center of attention for once and she got distracted from killing Rachel, which was a great relief for everyone. At least temporarily.
The natural order of things got restored: Finn and Rachel, Puck and Quinn, Brittany and Santana, Blaine and a dude… There was only one thing left to do: every pig to his sty. Rachel moved back to New York with Finn, where she would wait patiently to attend NYADA the following year without interfering with the Lima arcs, and her man would work with Shelby on the writing of the musical. Again, if the natural order of things got restored, Santana's duty was fulfilled, so she came back to NYC with Rachel, Rachel's unconditional friendship and a gift from the diva: the female main role on her mom's musical. Nothing like nepotism to build a decent Broadway show.
And… well… that's kind of everything that happened. Oh, no, this wasn't the way this previously was supposed to end. This is the good one:
And that's what you've missed on To Move On!
1. Here we go again
"We're here. We're here. We're here!"
Rachel and Kurt walked down the halls of the William McKinley High School arm in arm, as if the eleven months following their graduation had actually never happened.
The girl, in a plated gray skirt and her navy blue sweater with the big yellow ribbon printed on the middle, hopped and giggled as she recalled every moment lived next to those lockers. "Oh! The board where I signed in for my audition for Glee Club!"
"We," Kurt corrected.
"Where I signed for my first Nationals solo!"
"We, and you didn't make it that time."
"Where I got my role for Maria." She turned to Kurt to give him a cold, but playful, look. "You too?"
They kept on with their tour. "Oh! The cafeteria! Oh! The gymnasium! My prom crowning…" Her face turned into a foolish grin as her eyes watched her and Finn dancing to Quinn and Santana's 'Take My Breath Away'.
"And mine," Kurt kept rectifying Rachel. "And if you mention the cafeteria, 'oh' to the food poisoning we both…" he stressed the plural, "got after the Indi-fusion author's cuisine that Figgins imposed in '09."
"I am a lady and I don't talk about my bowel sufferings."
But the biggest 'oh' didn't come until the pair arrived at the choir room. The door was closed, so they stood outside for a minute, watching what once was their home through the door glass. The kids cocked their heads to the left as they stared at the performance that was taking place in the middle of the room.
"Oh! Blaine singing a solo," Rachel said, brimming with memories and nostalgia.
Kurt nodded absent-mindedly. There he was. The boy without the bowtie. An inch taller. A ton prettier. Filling the room with his talent. Filling Kurt's mind with moments of sweet tenderness. As if he was lying on Blaine's bed, watching him rehearse his 'Something's Coming' over and over again.
"Be nice, okay?" Rachel said as the tiny Warbler was getting his standing ovation. Well, it wasn't standing. Actually, it wasn't even an ovation. Just a few lazy claps given by the inertial force that moved the hands to run into each other once the music had stopped playing.
Kurt smiled. "I am nice. We ended up alright. No hard feelings, no harm done."
"You hated me for… like a month." Rachel was the one with the correction power this time. "Anyway," she said as she let go of Kurt's arm, "we're here to teach these poor lost-in-life kids how to make it to the stardom. First of all, a powerful entrance. You, me and Barbra."
"It wasn't hate, it was just despair. You're not the only one entitled to go all drama queen from time to time."
"From time to time?" Rachel interrupted him, offended. "My life is full with unexpected twists that leave me totally devastated. You might be content with your monthly nighttime crying, but Rachel Barbra Berry deserves more than emotional mediocrity." Trust me, the girl is not exaggerating at all. Stay tuned.
"Are you listening to yourself?"
"Maybe. Maybe not. I'm kinda nervous. Shut up, don't distract me." She started going through her phone, looking for the instrumental version of 'As If We Never Said Goodbye'. "Okay." She hit play.
"Oh, no, no. I already did that."
Her jaw dropped to the floor as she took an outraged hand to her chest. "You what?! You don't get to sing Barbra without my previous and signed consent!"
"You were there when I sang it." Kurt's frown was starting to leave a mark on his pale forehead.
She pointed at her friend with an accusatory finger. "I might have forgotten about it, and maybe even enjoyed it at that moment, but you will pay for this, mister. I don't have an entrance song now. Thank you so much."
"Come on! It was when I transferred back from Dalton! Nobody will remember it by now!" He tried to downplay the issue.
"I won't eat your stolen musical sloppy seconds."
"You did Blaine."
She gave Kurt a hair flop that hit him in his whole face. Rachel opened the door and walked in, interrupting Will's speech. "I'm back!" She made a brief pause as all the kids in the room stared at her with looks in which 'can you be any more egocentric?' could be perfectly read. "And Kurt too, but he doesn't deserve the recognition," she finished with a less eager tone.
"We've been hearing your discussion about the return solo issue, and you made it to let us know that you haven't change a bit," Artie sentenced from his usual spot on the far left next to the band boys.
Sitting next the boy with the wheelchair, Tina Cohen-Chang was trying to remain calm and not to resort to the 'control measurements' she had prepared in case of the so-called Berry Comeback.
Two seats to the right, there was Sugar, holding hands with Joe. "Oh, so… this… is…" Kurt tried to find the words, but it was way easier to say hello to Brittany, who was sitting on the back row. "Hey, Brit! Santana sends…"
He couldn't finish the duty he was entrusted with. Brittany leaped on the boy, wrapped her legs around his waist and started sniffing at his neck. "You smell like her!"
Sam and Rory made it to pull Britt away from Kurt as they distracted her with Santana's old uniform. "We keep it for when she misses her too much," the blond explained. Rory kept on with the story of the procedure they ended up getting used to, but neither Rachel nor Kurt understood a word he said, so they just nodded with blinking shocked eyes.
When everyone sat, they focused again on the faces left behind so long ago. But who were they kidding? Both of them didn't give a shit for anyone in that room but the boy with the puppy eyes.
Blaine stood with a grin on his face as he walked towards Rachel. The slight grin became an ear-to-ear smile, and the firm steps led to a tight, tight and warm hug. Rachel wrapped her arms around Blaine's waist back, closing her eyes as she smelled the sweet cologne on his collar. "I've missed you," Blaine whispered.
"Oh, please, you went to New York last month. And the month before. And the month before that." Kurt rolled his eyes, bugged about not being hugged the first or… just hugged by the short boy.
Blaine and Rachel let go of the hug as the first one gave Hummel a reprehending look. "You have her all year long; I only do one out of four weekends." Blaine moved to hug Kurt. It wasn't a hug as long or tight as the one he gave to Rachel, but polite enough. Right enough.
"Nice to see you, Blaine." Kurt smiled back.
"And nice to see you too, Rachel," Jacob Ben Israel said as he took pictures of the diva.
Rachel frowned really hard. "What… what is he doing here?" she asked, ready to run away in case he did the same move Brittany did to Kurt.
"That's the best our fifth round of recruiting did," Will said as he put his hands on both Kurt and Rachel's shoulders. "Well, Jacob, and her." He pointed at a brunette girl with a dark green beret who was sitting in the far right corner. She smiled shyly as she waved her hand. "Her name is Marley Rose and she's… kind of our new Rachel."
"I am the New Rachel," Blaine and Tina answered in unison.
Rachel looked at them. "And I am here. Why didn't you tell me about her? Or about Jacob?"
"Yes, Blaine, why didn't you tell Rachel anything about the Glee Club during one of your daily one-hour-long Skype talks?" Sebastian walked into the choir room thirty-two minutes after the class had started. He sat on the back row. "Sorry I'm this late; I was doing a random boy in the bathroom, which is way more worthy of admiration than being completely devoted to a half-married chick who's across the country." Sebastian raised his hand before Will could even start talking. "And don't tell me that I could get expelled due to 'inappropriate behavior', because I'm gay and that would be a hate crime."
"You nailed Santana," Kurt said contemptuously, making a face as he watched his archenemy attacking the ex-love-of-his-life.
"Oh, Lady Hummel, I hadn't seen you. You know, since we painted the walls white it's kind of difficult to notice people like you. And don't say that that's racist, because the problem is that you have a disease, right, Bella?"
"When did he become the head bitch in charge? And, again, why didn't you tell me about everything that's going on in here?" Rachel asked again, looking inquisitively at Blaine.
Tina stood up and walked towards Rachel as she pushed Blaine away. "Please, let me do the honors, I want to see Berry's face decomposing."
"I left. You know you shouldn't be hating me any longer, don't you?" Rachel answered as she stepped back, trying to put some distance between her face and Tina's.
"Oh, yes, but I'm gonna crush you next year in NYADA, so I want to start getting used to your eyes crying tears of blood every time I open my mouth, with or without music in the background. Ready?" She had the craziest eyes ever seen.
"Always ready, I'll sing everything back into place once you're finished tearing me down." She smirked, pretty sure of herself. 'Realistic,' as she would have said.
Tina took a deep breath and started with her string. "The day after you went back to New York, I was crowned as the rightful captain of the New Directions."
"Yes, I know, I made that happen," Rachel interrupted, recalling the letter he gave to Blaine the day she left, in which she gave the role down to Tina.
"She didn't need that. She staged a coup d'état even before I arrived," Blaine said.
"Little Blaine is right, but do not interrupt me ever again." Tina pressed her finger against Rachel's forehead. "I let him be my vice-captain given the fact that he put up no resistance, and we started looking for replacements for you and Santana."
"And the twelfth member you were supposed to find for Sectionals before Mr. Shue had to hire Jesse," Rachel pointed out.
"Did I tell you that you could interrupt me?!" Tina shouted out of herself. She took another deep breath and unclenched her fists. "And so we did: five open auditions and only one candidate. Her." She turned her head to Marley. "Now you can talk."
"I don't need your permission to talk," Rachel answered, outraged.
"You do need it if you don't want to crawl back home with your feet into your mouth."
Kurt took Rachel away from Tina, slowly and without provoking the psycho Asian. "Let's just pretend that we haven't heard anything and just introduce ourselves." He held his hand out once they made their way to the right corner of the choir room. "Kurt Hummel, nice to meet you."
Marley shook it. "My pleasure. You two are very important names in here."
"Mostly me, but you remaining a secret for us intrigues me more than the fact that my legacy hasn't been corrupted by some crazy wannabes." Rachel shook Marley's hand right after Kurt.
Jacob tried to hold Rachel's hand as well, but she pulled it away, just grossed out just by the thought of what those filthy hands would have been doing, touching or trying to recreate with an inflatable doll and the panties she was extorted to give him four years ago. "Oh, come on! I'm a Glee fella now!" Jacob complained.
"You're still as disgusting as you were the day I left. But I don't care about that, because it's your nature and I respect that." She petted Jacob's afro and turned to the class. "New York has taught me that I have to tolerate every single person in this disparate world, and then I will be treated as right as I did with everyone else."
"Okay, Sister Mary Berry, sit down and let the girl show you how we won Regionals," Sebastian said as he put his hands behind his head and his feet on the chair opposite to his.
"Well, let's see what you got, Carly." Rachel smiled warmly as she invited the girl to the center of the choir room.
"It's Marley," she corrected her while everyone else sat down.
Rachel leaned to the left to talk to Kurt. "Did you know?"
"No. And if nobody has told you…"
"It's because whether she's a pariah or I could be actually dethroned as the living legend that raised the New Directions to their one and only National championship of the century. And in the worst-case scenario, the secret would have been kept away from me because they didn't want me to suffer from the distance or because they wanted to see me fall down in the middle of my magnificent comeback." She turned to look at her best friend. "You're a love, Blainey." Wrong.
[Tell him – Celine Dion & Barbra Streisand]
Marley:
I'm scared, so afraid to show I care.
Will he think me weak if I tremble when I speak?
Rachel was swimming in a sea of pure amazement and fear, holding both Blaine and Kurt's hands. Actually, squeezing her anger out on them.
Marley:
Oh, what if there's another one he's thinking of?
Maybe he's in love, I'd feel like a fool.
Life can be so cruel. I don't know what to do.
And the living legend stood up. "Impromptu diva off. Love it." Will rubbed his hands together. He really enjoyed the musical cat fights in his choir room. Way classier than the usual teen drama.
Rachel:
I've been there with my heart out in my hand.
But what you must understand
you can't let the chance to love him pass you by.
Marley and Rachel:
Tell him, tell him that the sun and moon rise in his eyes.
Reach out to him.
And whisper tender words so soft and sweet.
Marley:
I'll hold him close to feel his heartbeat.
Rachel:
Love will be the gift you give yourself.
Both of them stood next to each other, looking into their eyes from time to time. Marley, feeling honored to have the chance to sing with the original Rachel. Rachel, feeling not as awkward or threatened as she thought she would feel.
Rachel:
Touch him with the gentleness you feel inside.
Marley:
I feel it.
Rachel:
Your love can't be denied. The truth will set you free.
You'll have what's meant to be. All in time you'll see.
Marley:
Ooh, I love him.
Rachel:
Then show him.
Marley:
Of that much I can be sure.
Rachel:
Hold him close to you.
Marley:
I don't think I could endure if I let him walk away
when I have so much to say.
Marley and Rachel:
Tell him, tell him that the sun and moon rise in his eyes.
Reach out to him.
And whisper tender words so soft and sweet.
Rachel:
Hold him close to feel his heartbeat.
Marley:
Love will be the gift you give yourself.
Love is a light that truly glows
in the hearts of those who know.
It's a steady flame that grows.
Rachel:
Feed the fire with all the passion you can show.
Marley:
Tonight love will assume its place.
Rachel:
This memory time cannot erase.
The girls held each other's hands.
Marley and Rachel:
Your faith will lead love where it has to go.
Tell him, tell him that the sun and moon rise in his eyes.
Reach out to him.
And whisper, whisper words so soft and sweet.
Hold him close to feel his heart beat.
Love will be the gift you give yourself
Ooh, never let him go.
Rachel dried the tears from her eyes with her index fingers, trying not to get her mascara all smudged. She hadn't sung a powerful ballad without thinking of her Finn in the last eleven months, and that one wasn't the exception. "You have quite a voice, Charlie."
"Thanks." Marley blushed as she sat next to Blaine in the middle of, this time, the real standing ovation.
"Come on! Go there and take your bow." Blaine pushed her back to the center of the choir room.
Rachel held Marley's hand again as they took their bow. "She's talented, nice and doesn't try to steal a spotlight that doesn't belong to her. This is a keep, people." Rachel smiled widely. Relieved, actually.
The contenders finally sat down and the reduced audience stopped applauding. "It could have been way worse, don't you think?" Rachel asked Kurt as both his eyes and mouth fell right into the basement of the school. "What?"
Kurt pointed to Rachel's right, and when she turned her head, her face shift into the same expression as Kurt's.
Tina took a picture with her phone of the speechless New Yorkers. "That was the face I was looking for!" She took another picture of the kids on their right, just to make a pretty expressive collage that told the whole story by itself.
And Blaine and Marley let go of their hands.
